Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said Tuesday that he has sent a letter to his South Sudan counterpart Nhial Deng Nhial to express the Venezuelan government's recognition of the Republic of South Sudan as an independent state.

According to a statement issued by the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, Jaua said Venezuela "joins the peoples of the world in encouraging the new state of South Sudan to overcome great challenges to strengthen democracy, diversity, justice and inclusion based on the principles established by the United Nations Charter."

The statement said, "with this recognition, the South American country is also in the global forefront by being one of the few countries that recognizes all of the African states, based on its multilateral policy."

On July 9, 2011, South Sudan declared independence from the rest of Sudan, following a referendum held in the same year.

The majority of the referendum voted "yes" to the formation of a new state, which was a condition of the peace agreements reached between North and South Sudan in 2005 after 21 years of civil war.

The agreements called for holding a referendum on self-determination in the South, which took place in January 2011.